If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Creative Labs Riva TNT

I already have an ATI (1.5 yr. old) TV tuner card. Shouldnt i save the extra $ and just get the Creative Labs card instead of buying the Canopus or STB card. Im sure the TV out is much better, but, what would u guys do????? !!!!!!!!! Creative Labs card is $115. Oh MY&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt; Hard to pass up

Now, you could, but the Spectra has reverse pass through (Witch Doctor)... So you can play Glide games on your TV if you have a voodoo card... If you don't have the cash go for creative... But Canopus is the Best!
MY 30 peanuts
Esq.

Creative labs has a history of making cards based intirely on reference designs supplied from chipset maker (look at the voodoo2 card they make). They do this so they can get their card to the market first, and sell more off the start. This also saves them money and time in development. One of the problems with this is that creative labs spends no time on driver development and ships their cards with the reference chipset drivers. Diamond, STB, and Canopus take time and effort to ship a part that is not based in whole on the reference design, and they develop their own suit of drivers. You will bet better overall performance and usability from one of the these manufacturers cards. STB gives you controls for adjusting settings for d3d and opengl games. You will also get better resolutions and better refresh rate choices from the other cards. \

While im not knocking creative labs for making bad cards, on the contrary the cards are good, just they are not optimized totally for the chipsets, and you dont get the good drivers and control applets supplied by other manufacturers.

Another card you could look at is the Elsa Erazor II. This card is also a Riva TNT based card with 16mb of ram. However, I am not familiar with their drivers or wether or not it is just another reference part.
Collinj

I would get the STB(which I bought) or the CAnopus. Creative is a solid company, but does not go the extra mile. Diamond just plain scares me. And Elsa makes great workstation cards, but whne trying t ocontact and get more info, they seem ill-equipped for dealing with (low) end users.